Sports

FISHING REPORT: For June 26

(Page 12 of 12)

Trending

SAN ANTONIO: Overall slowish action. Not many boils on stripers and the shad arenât on the top. Catfish are the best bet with fair to good action on fish to six and seven pounds, mostly on frozen shad or anchovies fished in the coves. The black bass bite has been spotty with only a few fish showing early and late in the day on reaction baits. A few topwater fish. Anglers launching boats need to think cleaned, drained, and dry or they are likely to be denied access. Information: marina at 805-472-2818, or Jimâs Pro Bass Tackle at 805-237-0549.

NACIMIENTO: White bass are showing throughout the main body of the lake on Kastmasters and Roostertails, with the fish boiling in the mornings on shad, especially around the marina. The fish are running up to 2-8. There is also a good bluegill bite in most of the coves and areas with structure or docks. Meal worms, red worms, wax worms, and crickets are all good baits. The spotted, largemouth and smallmouth bass are slow to fair. There has been some topwater action early and late in the day for smallies and largemouth, and some fish on cranks. Nightcrawlers and plastics have been the best bet when the fish arenât up chasing bait. Catfish slow. Quagga mussel inspections are now required before boat launching is allowed. Anglers need to think cleaned, drained, and dry or they are likely to be denied access. Information: marina at 805-238-1056 or www.nacimientoresort.com, Bee Rock Store at 805-472-9677, or Jimâs Pro Bass Tackle at 805-237-0549.

SANTA MARGARITA: Over the last two weeks, the shad and fry population in the lake has exploded so thereâs a ton of bait in the water. Itâs easy to dip net some shad for bait, and the morning and evening largemouth bass bite has been good on shad, topwater plugs, frogs, buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. Thereâs also a fair bite on the crappie on the live shad. Not a lot of fish, but those showing are nice two to three-pound class fish. Other species have been slow. Not many panfish and only the occasional catfish. Light fishing pressure. Anglers need to think cleaned, drained, and dry boats or they are likely to be denied access. The marina store is open Wednesday through Sunday. Information: 805-438-1522.

LOPEZ: There continues to be a fair crappie bite off the fishing docks on small jigs with fish to 1-12 reported in the past week. The bass have been slow except for a pretty fair morning bite on topwater and reaction baits. The bite on small bluegill is good in most coves with structure, but there have been few catfish reports in the past week. Quagga mussel inspections are now required before boat launching is allowed. Anglers need to think cleaned, drained, and dry or they are likely to be denied access. Information: 805-489-1006.

OCEAN FISHING REPORT

By Terrence Berg

www.976-TUNA.com

SAN DIEGO YELLOWTAIL AND BLUEFIN: The overnight to 2 1/2-day boats out of San Diego continue to see incredible, limit-style yellowtail fishing on kelp paddies south of Point Loma in the 60 to 120 miles range. The majority of the yellowtail are 12 to 16 pounds with some bigger fish to 25 pounds on most trips. The boat skippers are also reporting schools of bluefin in the same areas, but they were just not biting during the full moon this past week. The bluefin are mostly in the 20 to 40-pound class, but there are schools of fish to 100 pounds. These trips are full on weekends, but the mid-week loads are light and many boats arenât even running mid-week because of a lack of bookings. A few scores: Out of Point Loma Sportfishing, the Grande, Dominator, and New Lo-An all were out on 1 1/2-day trips that returned Sunday or Monday, and the anglers on board all had limits of yellowtail. There were also two bluefin taken on the grande. Out of Fishermanâs Landing, the Prowler and Pacific Queen returned on Tuesday from 1 1/2-day trips and all anglers on board had limits of gaffer yellowtail. The Chief out of H&M Landing was on a 2 1/2-day trip with 23 anglers and they returned Monday with two-day limits of yellowtail (230), 90 rockfish, 53 ling cod, 46 bocaccio 33 whitefish, and 26 red snapper. At Seaforth Sportfishing, The Voyager was out on a 1 1/2-day trip with just seven anglers and they had limits of yellowtail on Tuesday.

THREE LOCAL HOTSPOTS: White seabass, yellowtail, and halibut have been stacked up on three big spots of bait off the local coast this week providing very good fishing around the full moon this past weekend, mostly for private boaters, but also to a lesser extent for the half- and three-quarter day boats along the coast. First, the area between San Diego and Tijuana in the Bull Ring area was very good on yellowtail and white seabass to 60 pounds. Second, the Huntington Flats were holding a big volume of squid and the seabass, yellowtail, and halibut were on that candy bait and providing good fishing for boats in that region. There are also a lot of legal and sub-legal calico and sand bass in this bite. Third, the same thing was happening at the Venture County line and being targeted by private boaters and a few sportboats. There are also scores of smaller bait spots that produce good action for anglers targeting these locations. Just one example of the action. The Blue Horizon out of H&M was out with 11 anglers on an overnight boat and they focused on the Bull Ring region and the 11 anglers on board had nine white seabass to 50 pounds, six legal sand bass, and 20 barracuda.

ISLANDS UPDATE: Catalina and San Clemente islands both have been very good this past week. At San Clemente, skippers are reporting they are returning with 10 to 20 yellowtail per trips, along with good numbers of legal calico bass and a few white seabass. Catalina is also very good with a lot of skippers cashing in on great mixed-species fishing. The Pursuit out of 22nd Street Landing was at Catalina on Tuesday on a full-day trip with 37 anglers. They landed 13 yellowtail, 64 legal calico bass (along with 185 released), 26 sheephead, 23 barracuda, 14 whitefish, and 163 perch. The Freedom, also out of 22nd Street, was on an overnight that returned Sunday with 32 anglers and they landed six yellowtail, one white seabass, 12 legal calicos, 15 sheephead, 20 whitefish, 30 bocaccio, and 250 rockfish.

INSTRUCTIONAL CHARTERS: The staff of 976-TUNA is hosting instructional charters throughout the year, offering advice to beginning or veteran anglers and on-the-water teaching of techniques for different saltwater species. The next trip departs June 30. This is a 2 1/2-day jaunt aboard the Eclipse out of Seaforth Sportfishing in San Diego that will target yellowtail and bluefin. Cost is $349 per person. For information on this and other upcoming 976-TUNA instructional charters, call 562-352-0012 or go to the website at www.976-TUNA.com.

Join the conversation

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to allow Freedom Communications, Inc. the right to republish your name and comment in additional Freedom publications without any notification or payment.